Warlock instance grouping guide
Back to the Instance Grouping Guide The Warlock in Instances As a Warlock * Unless your party needs a secondary tank, don't use your Voidwalker. Use a damage dealing minion such as the Imp, Succubus, or Felguard. Imp is often preferable because both minions deal roughly equal damage per second, but Imp also provides your party members with an important buff - Blood Pact. Succubus may be requested by your party leader in instances with large numbers of Humanoids, due to its Seduce ability. Due to Master Demonologist, Demonology specced warlocks have additional considerations when selecting pets. * In a skilled group, the above comment about the Voidwalker is generally true, with one notable exception. The buff gained from using Sacrifice, combined with a Spellstone and a Power Word: Shield, means you can sustain Rain of Fire or Hellfire for a LOT longer. Most useful against non-elite mobs, and when combined with a mage's AoE. * In less skilled groups (in which I include most PUGs), the Voidwalker can still be very effective, primarily as an off-tank. An important thing to take note of is that the more off-tanks in the group, the more targets can be hit with with the Warlock's supremely efficient DOTs. This not only leaves you with more mana to play with (compare to "I'm a Evil Mage!", below), but also the additional off-tank means the main healer is spending less time healing the MT, leaving him with more mana to heal you if you do need to Life Tap. The Voidwalker target becomes an ideal "next" target for the MA, since it has had your DOT on him for some time (and Curse of Agony will be picking up the pace). You can then decide if the Voidwalker has enough health left to pick a new target off the MT without the main healer healing him, or you can keep him in reserve to take aggro off a caster or Sacrifice to protect yourself. Certain Demonology talents, specifically Improved Void Walker and Master Demonology, can your Voidwalker's ability to off-tank. Fel Stamina and Unholy Power also help, but not as much. * Better me than him! If the other party members are busy, you can use Searing Pain to pull aggro from other casters. Even better if this means the mob has to run 2-3 secs across the battle field, quite possibly back toward the MT. ** It's easier for the priest to heal you than himself (and can also allow for 2 Power Word: Shield spells to be up). ** Any target which is attacking a Mage has normally suffered fairly heinous damage, and pulling the mob off the mage can allow the mage to finish the job, or with tougher mobs, regain aggro and watch it run all the way back over(hopefully while snared) to the mage, allowing you to repeat until dead. Combine with Curse of the Elements, and you're laughing! ** In very high level instances, your chances of gaining aggro before the caster dies are slim. *Be extremly careful with fear. If you decide its absolutly nessesary keep Curse of Recklessness on hand. This counters fear and will bring it running back. I really find this usefully in very limited situations. But they are there. These include **Priest is low on health and is getting pounded on. If you tank isn't getting aggro and you can't kill in time go ahead and fear but try and nuke it while its feared so it will come to you and not priest. **There is no chance to aggro anymore. These include event situations where its immposible to pull more. Go ahead fear. **Its the only chance. If you are 100% going to die if you don't fear do it. A small chance is better then none. Even in these situations it may be best to not fear. * Make sure your minion is on defensive or passive. Passive is preferable, just incase you break a sheep, or shackle etc. * AoE belongs at the end of the fight, not at the beginning. Leave some time for DOTs to do their dirty work, and for Tanks to gain hate. If you are not Destruction specced, it is only rarely worth considering. If you are Destruction specced, and have a Paladin in the party, the combination of Intensity and Concentration Aura can make your AoE options much, much more attractive. * Learn to look for Demons and Elementals to banish. You be very suprised what sometimes constitutes a demon in WoW. Check out Sunken Temple for example. One tell-tell sign is that they tend to be immune to curses. * Create a Soulstone for the healer. That way, should she die and be the only one capable of rezzing, you can bring her back. The Warlock should pay close attention to the timer, and ensure a new Soulstone is placed as soon as the previous one runs out. For Alliance it is better to Soulstone a Paladin then a Priest if you have one in your party as they usually live longer then the priests. * When you have more than one warlock in the party, it's not advisable to have all Soulstones active at the same time. It's enough to have one Soulstone "in action" (cast on a healer) and all others "in reserve." This way, after a wipe and a rez, someone can immediately cast a new Soulstone. * Create Healthstones for your party members. In instances it is easy to use Drain Soul fairly often, so it shouldn't be a problem to keep everyone around supplied with healthstones all the time. Don't forget to tell everyone to ask for a new one, if they used theirs. * Curse of Recklessness is a useful spell in crowded instances, as it will stop the normal 'run and get help' reflex of enemies when they reach low health, instead forcing them to fight to the death. This can go a long way toward wipe prevention. Also, each rank of this curse is completely useless, all it does is up the bad effect. Use Rank 1 each time, so that the attack power upped is greatly lower. * Whenever you have multiple warlocks and mages in your party/raid, Curse of Shadows becomes very useful spell that contributes to damage of every shadow/arcane spellcaster. It is also remarkable because it does not interfere with crowd control - when cast on frozen or polymorphed target, it does not break freeze/polymorph. Curse of Shadows is also appreciated by Shadow-specced Priests (see Priest talents for more information on the Shadow tree). * Avoid "I'm an Evil Mage!" syndrome. Warlocks are not mages. This tactic consists of placing DOTs on MA target, pummelling target with Shadow Bolt, and finally running out of mana. Yes, you can refill your mana bar from the priests, but he probably has better things to do with it. This only time this is viable strategy is when, you either lack proper DPS classes or are mainly defensive in party make-up (ie, warrior, paladin, druid, priest). A second healer adds viability to this, but Life Tap is just as handy when playing more efficiently. Also note that the target the MA is on should be dying MUCH too quickly to get the most out of your DOTs. Notable exception: this tactic has its merits when you end up being the primary damage dealer, mainly because you are higher level than your DPS compatriots and your targets. Using bandanges will also keep a nuking warlock going longer, which is especially important for Destruction warlocks, given their chosen tree's emphasis on nuking spells. * Only use immolate and shadowbolt on mobs that are going to be downed quickly, and if you have nightfall, it's fun to get in the habit of dabbing corruption on, and that's fine. * Destruction warlocks CAN outdps mages. At level 60, good destruc locks have higher burst damage, and can down weaker mobs faster, but in larger fights, such as minibosses or end bosses, do not burst. Bursting for a lock takes a lot of mana, and sure you can life tap, but the priest isn't going to take time to heal you when your main tank is getting the crap beat out of him. Boss fights are one of the rare times your dots take full effect, twice over. Working with a Warlock * You will often see a Warlock's health rapidly dropping in the middle of combat. Don't be alarmed, this does not necessarily mean that they are being attacked and in immediate need of healing. It is quite common for Warlocks to use Life Tap spell to convert health to mana if they run out of mana. It is usually not necessary to heal a Warlock unless he/she draws aggro or his health falls below 50%. On the other hand, during long encounters ( more than 2 minutes without resting ), actively spellcasting Warlocks may run out of both health and mana and will depend on healing for continued DPS. * Please, if a Warlock is scouting using the Eye of Kilrogg (a little floating green ball), watch their body--they can't see or hear what is happening to them because they're off elsewhere. Don't forget that they use it to help you too. Nothing worse than scouting for the group to come back to see they've left you behind and now you're being attacked. This spell doesn't stop once under attack, and the Warlock doesn't hear anything. In essence, the Warlock is only there physically. **The same goes for Hunters using Eyes of the Beast. Category:Guides Instance Grouping Guide Instance Grouping Guide Category:Warlocks